Burnwinter
No, that's true, they didn't, but within minutes, seconds even, of his arrival Xhaka was ferociously fighting for the ball by Oxford's corner flag. I think he either won a corner or a throw, it doesn't really matter. But in that one piece of play, he showed more than Sambi had all evening. And for me, it represented an aggressive action, the like of which you need to bring to games and we had failed to do this all game. We turned up the gas, basically.
Essentially I agree with what you're saying in respects of the "up and comers", but I think it's a lot easier said than done. History tells you that. I remember me and Sabret00the (remember him?) being massively frustrated that Jermaine Pennant wasn't given more of a chance during the Invincibles season. Were we right to be? We thought we were at the time, history suggests otherwise. Conversely, Gael Clichy took his chance to shine and acquitted himself incredibly well for a 17 year old kid, but he only got that chance because of what went down at Old Trafford.
What seems to be true of Arteta, a bit like Arsene, is that once you've lost his trust, it is incredibly difficult - perhaps impossible - to get it back. That seems a bit hardline to me, but again - it's elite sport, once lost, it should be difficult to win a manager's trust back. Particularly at a club like Arsenal. I guess it depends whether Arteta sees his fringe players as up and comers, or as with the Conservative, dead weight.
Conscious that I've started to waffle now, so I'll leave it there. 🙂
